The Colorado Department of Transportation is pleased to announce that the reconstruction of Interstate 76 at US Highway 85 is now complete. The most noticeable changes are along westbound I-76 where the project improved the curve approaching the southbound US 85 merge area and added an additional lane from southbound US 85 to 96th Avenue.

Before the project, westbound I-76 had a high accident history including several truck roll-over incidents. The superelevation of the curve, which is the raised or ‘banked’ section, was redesigned to current standards. Traffic operations have also improved at the southbound US 85 on-ramp. There are now two lanes entering I-76 instead of one.

BACKGROUND
The Colorado Department of Transportation and contractor partner, Villalobos Concrete Inc. began construction in October 2016. For an entire year, both directions of I-76 were down a lane in each direction while crews completely reconstructed the highway from 96th Avenue through the US 85 interchange. Major project features included improving the westbound I-76 curve at US 85, constructing a new auxiliary lane from southbound US 85 to 96th Avenue and full replacement of deteriorated concrete pavement. The project also improved roadway drainage, lighting and water quality measures. This $10 million improvement project was partially funded by FASTER Safety funds.

For real-time information regarding traffic impacts on any state highway, motorists can sign up for CDOT email and text alerts by visiting www.codot.gov and clicking on the small envelope icon at the bottom right of the page. Updates are also available via Twitter @coloradodot and Facebook (www.facebook.com/coloradodot).